With the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) declaration of Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) as adulterants in non-intact raw beef products and intact raw beef products intended for non-intact use (FSIS, 2012), adding antimicrobial interventions has become standard procedure during beef harvest and further processing.
Despite best practices, however, microbial contamination of beef carcasses can be a direct result of harvesting cattle (Kang, Koohmaraie, & Siragusa, 2001). Implementing multiple applications of antimicrobial interventions can mitigate possible contamination from the slaughter process and improve the microbiological quality of beef carcasses (Bacon et al., 2000). The concept of using consecutive decontamination processes in beef packing plants to improve the microbiological quality of beef carcasses is beneficial to reduce microbiological contamination of beef carcass surfaces that can occur during the beef harvest process (Bacon et al., 2000). The application of organic acids and hot water as a means of whole-carcass spraying has evolved from ambient to warm water washes, to use of antimicrobials, hot water and steam (Koohmaraie et al., 2005). But because most carcass decontamination treatments do not sterilize the carcass, microorganisms remaining on carcass surfaces can easily be transferred onto freshly cut surfaces during carcass fabrication, and subsequently carried through grinding operations (Pohlman, Stivarius, McElyea, Johnson, & Johnson, 2002).